House Passes Funding For 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund

WASHINGTON – The House overwhelmingly passes a bill giving money to the 9/11 victims compensation fund until 2090.

Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson and North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong voted in favor of the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to take action on it before the August recess.

The Victims Compensation Fund gives money to people who file claims connected to deaths and health problems from the World Trade Center Attacks.

“We are getting to the point where more people will die from complications after 9/11 then actually died on the day of 9/11,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota said in a June 18 interview with KVRR.

Comedian and first responders advocate Jon Stewart criticized Congress for failing to act on the bill at a subcommittee hearing last month.

NYPD Detective Luis Alvarez sent Senator McConnell his badge and a handwritten note saying “My goal and legacy in this world was to see the VCF bill passed.” Alvarez died two weeks ago after a three-year battle with colorectal cancer he says he got digging through rubble at ground zero.